Govt plans emergency power barges for Lagos

5 December 2011, Sweetcrude, LAGOS – Nigeria’s Federal Government, working in conjunction with the Lagos State government, will soon deploy emergency power barges to bring relief to residents of the commercial capital from power problem that is perennial in Nigeria.

This is part of the government’s emergency plan for the power sector, that isd expected to relieve the power problem nationwide.

Disclosing the plan as it affects Lagos, the State commissioner Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Taofik Tijani, said the Federal and the Lagos State governments were working together towards the establishment of 700mw power barges in various parts of the state to provide emergency power solutions within the next one year.

Tijani, who briefed journalists in Lagos alongside Abdul-Lateef Aderemi Ibirogba, his Mineral Resources counterpart, said Lagos was chosen by the establishment of the power barges because the state has all the facilities and infrastructure for transmission and supply of power to the national grid.

He said: “Work has started and we have visited the areas, basically, around Ijora, Akoka and Egbin, where they are going to deploy these power barges. There is a joint committee of Federal Government and Lagos State Government on power projects development.

“There has been a lot of engagements between officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and the Federal Ministry of Power. As we go along, the emergency power solutions will be actualised very soon. We have all these collaborations in an effort to achieve a stable power supply for Lagos State.”

According to him, his ministry was also collaborating with the British Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank for the provision of support services to both his ministry and the Lagos State Electricity Board.

Tijani stataed that Lagos State was engaging the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) for gas supply to support the captive power plants being constructed at Alausa and the one that was recently completed at Marina.

“Hopefully, when the ongoing power reform is completed, Lagos State will get the distribution permit to supply power from the captive power plant at Marina to parts of Victoria Island. It was a very good engineering feat, completed on record time and working perfectly well. It is a thermal plant being run by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). The Alausa plant is about to be completed with an intention to supply 10mw to Alausa Secretariat and all adjoining areas,” he said.

On the issue of tank farms, Tijani stated that Governor Babatunde Fashola had approved the measures to checkmate unwholesome practices in their operations “in view of the safety and security implications on the people”.